Prejudice against YOUR accent

"While attacking people on ground of race, sex or age is considered politically incorrect, it is still surprisingly common to encounter attacks based on accent, especially if those accents originate in the lower classes. In theory, it ought to be possible to convince fair-minded people that all accents are equally valid, as long as they are mutually intelligible. However, since I and many other linguists have over the past two or three decades failed miserably in our efforts to convince, I have come to the conclusion that we should introduce into our schools 'language awareness programmes' which cover not only the features of Received Pronunciation and local accents, but also the common reactions which the more stigmatised varieties evoke."Paul Coggle, in a letter to the Times Ed. Supp., 4 Nov 1994